I. ˈtrād noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English, path, track, course of conduct, from Middle Low German, path, track; akin to Old Saxon trada tread, track, Old High German trata tread, track, course, Old English tredan to tread — more at tread
1.
a. obsolete : a path traversed or for traverse : course , way
b. archaic : a track or trail left by a man or animal : tread 1
some savage beast's trade — Edmund Spenser
2.
a. : a course of action or conduct : mode of procedure or life
b. : a customary course of action : habit , practice
thy sin's not accidental, but a trade — Shakespeare
3.
a. : the business one practices or the work in which one engages regularly : one's calling : gainful employment : means of livelihood : occupation
wherever a … writer or any sort of artist is plying his trade — C.E.Montague
a doctor by trade — Times Literary Supplement
as
(1) : an occupation requiring manual or mechanical skill and training : a craft in which only skilled workers are employed
the harness maker … had learned his trade after five years' service as an apprentice — Sherwood Anderson
worked at the printer's trade while preparing for the teaching profession
a carpenter carrying the tools of his trade
(2) : the occupation of a merchant (as a retail merchant)
had demeaned herself a little, as the daughter of a doctor, by marrying into trade … when she married the matter-of-fact, industrious rising young cheese merchant — Florence Bullock
English society … preserved intact the distinction between trade and gentility — G.H.Sabine
b. : a workman engaged in a trade
mechanical trades can move in as soon as … sheets are placed — Sweet's Catalog Service
c.
(1) : the group of persons engaged in a particular occupation, business, or industry
as a member of the writing trade — H.A.Smith
the book and news trade clearly oppose the adoption of a national censorship — Publishers' Weekly
the word in the trade is that May sales were not up to expectations — Securities Outlook
(2) : a corporation, guild, union, or other organization of craftsmen in a Scottish burgh
4.
a.
(1) archaic : travel to and fro : coming and going
(2) obsolete : dealings between persons or groups : intercourse
have you any further trade with us — Shakespeare
(3) dialect : fuss , bother
b.
(1) : the business of buying and selling or bartering commodities : exchange of goods for convenience or profit : commerce
a materials shortage that affected first manufacturing, then trade
: traffic
a slump in the cotton trade
laid off the new clerks when trade was slack
was doing a brisk trade in umbrellas
: market
souvenirs imported for the tourist trade
children's books … issued annually for the Christmas trade — Bookman's Glossary
specifically : exchange of merchandise between different places on a large scale
maritime nations for whom world trade is an important source of income
carried on trade in tea and spices with the Orient
a ship engaged in the coastwise trade
(2) : commodities for barter
salt … which sold for 2 dollars cash per bushel, or 3 dollars in trade — Andrew Ellicott
(3) archaic : a trading expedition
this new scheme of a trade round the world — Daniel Defoe
(4) : an act or instance of trading : transaction
reported the trade from the floor of the exchange
especially : an exchange of property usually without any use of money
an even trade
he's interested in making a trade for another good pitcher — New York Times
repairing a car he had taken in trade
(5) : a firm's customers : the clientele of a business
a girl who waited on trade in his father's shop — Sherwood Anderson
sent notices to the trade about the new location of the store
a restaurant catering to the breakfast trade
(6) : the group of firms or corporations engaged in a line of work : business
data reported for thirty-seven wholesale trades — E.L.Smith
: industry
in the rug and shawl trades — C.M.Whittaker & C.C.Wilcock
5. chiefly dialect
a. : stuff ; specifically : foodstuff
all that trade — Sir Walter Scott
b. : inferior matter or people : trash
with beatings up … by sailors and rough trade — Gershon Legman
6. : trade wind
the steady drive of the trades is changed to fitful inland airs — Marjory S. Douglas
II. verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
transitive verb
1. obsolete : to make one's way along or through : tread , traverse , lead
2. obsolete
a. : to pursue constantly as a course, end, or occupation
b. : to use regularly or habitually
the Greek language which then was the most traded … through the whole universe — John Donne
c. : to bring to a state of practice, discipline, or familiarity : school
learned schoolmasters to trade up the Christian youth in … liberal arts — Thomas Becon
3. archaic : to resort to for trade : engage in trade with
captain of a ship trading the Indies — Amy Lowell
4.
a.
(1) : to give in exchange for another commodity : barter
the white men who penetrated to the … wilds were always ready … to trade rifles and watches — J.F.Cooper
stolen horses, which would only be sold or traded off … hundreds of miles from home — J.F.Dobie
(2) : to give in return : exchange
reluctant to trade the security and rewards of private life for the hazards … and the low pay of government office — Time
trade off the right to navigate the lower Mississippi for a slice of the Newfoundland fisheries — E.S.Corwin
trade a proven pitcher to another team for four rookies
also : to make an exchange of
when parties trade votes on certain bills on purely party grounds — G.H.Benton
trade places with someone who likes to sit by open windows
: exchange in give-and-take
we traded shots and I got winged — Harvey Fergusson
b. : to buy and sell (as stock) regularly
trade holdings at a good profit
intransitive verb
1.
a.
(1) chiefly dialect : to make one's way : walk , pass , go
where be ye trading today — Thomas Hardy
(2) : to pass to and fro : come and go — used especially of birds
a place … over which the pigeons were trading between the stubbles and the wood — John Collier b. 1901
b. obsolete : to have dealings : negotiate
would come and speak with him and trade for a peace — Nicholas Lichefield
c. archaic : to occupy oneself : engage
in private … she traded more deeply in the occult sciences — Sir Walter Scott
2.
a. : to go for purposes of trade
all the vessels that trade to or from the Red sea — Samuel Johnson
b.
(1) : to engage in the exchange, purchase, or sale of goods or other property : carry on trade : do business for profit
prohibits American firms from trading with the enemy
a company is formed to trade in building materials — Edward Jenks
(2) : to buy and sell securities, real estate, or goods for quick profits rather than for long-term investment
he likes the stock … and he is accustomed to trading in and out of its shares — A.B.C. of Puts & Calls
c. : to deal in something not properly for sale : traffic — usually used with in
the chief justice … traded largely in pardons — T.B.Macaulay
d. : to deal regularly or frequently as a customer
trades only with merchants she knows
: make one's purchases : shop
trades at his store when she is in town
e. : to have a specified price in securities trading : sell
the common trades around 15 — Investor's Reader
3. : to give one thing in return for another
wanted to change his days off and got a friend to trade with him
: make an exchange
wore each other's hat for a while and then traded back
•
- trade on
- trade on the equity
III. adjective
1. : of or relating to trade
trade channels
trade statistics
trade problems
2. : used in trade
a trade path
a trade ducat
trade calendars
trade catalogs of the mail-order houses
specifically : being merchandise for barter with primitive peoples usually differing in material and form from the native product
the relatively early displacement of native equipment by trade goods — Eleanor Leacock
trade tomahawks
trade blankets
3.
a. : intended for or limited to persons in business or industry rather than the general public
a trade fair
a trade show for film exhibitors
a trade price
trade sales
b. : of, intended for, or used by people in a particular trade or occupation rather than the general public
a trade convention
trade circles
run ads in a trade paper
a trade journal
a trade term not in most vocabularies
c. : that specializes in work for other craftsmen or concerns engaged in the same or a closely related business and that does not usually deal directly with the ultimate user or consumer
a trade printing house
a trade compositor
a trade bindery
4.
a. also trades : of, composed of, or representing the trades or trade unions
a trade club
a trade hall
b. : of, relating to, or training for a skilled manual or mechanical trade
trade or professional work
trade dictionaries
trade students
5. : of or associated with a trade wind
the trade belts
trade clouds
IV. adverb
Etymology: trade (I) (sense 2)
archaic : in a regular course : regularly and steadily in the same direction ; specifically : in the manner and direction of a trade wind
the winds … seemed to be more steadily against us, blowing almost trade — Daniel Defoe
V. noun
1. slang : male homosexuals who are prostitutes and often of aggressively masculine manner ; also : a homosexual of this sort
2. : a publication intended for those in the entertainment business — usually used in plural
VI. adjective
: having a larger softcover format than that of a mass-market paperback and usually sold only in bookstores
trade paperbacks
also : of or relating to the publishing of such books